TOW #29: Food, Inc.

   In the 1930s, the horrors of the meat packing industry were exposed to America's public through use of the media. The unsanitary practices used to package raw meat shocked America and caused meat boycotts across the nation. But since the country thrives on the production and consumption of meat, there had to be a solution. The government created an agency to monitor the practices of this industry, but also to oversee the entire food and drug industries. Still around today, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is required to monitor food and drug processes for the safety of America. Although this is the perfect idea to overlook important industries that run our lives, there are problems that lie in the power. The problem in our food system today lies in our government dominated by the industries that it was meant to be regulated.
  In recent years, our seed industry has been radically changed and dominated by the company Monsanto. Farmers are forced to use the genetically modified seed made by Monsanto, or else the company will sue them. As a farmer, being sued by a multi-million dollar company has its obvious problems. So why is it legal for Monsanto to control these innocent farmers? How come the government regulatory systems have not stepped in? To the unaware Americans, it seems there have already been court cases for this problem. But if one digs deeper, we can see the problem is lying in the multiple positions government agents have. Take Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an example. He wrote the majority opinion that these companies are allowed to prohibit farmers from saving their own seed. That is not a problem until we take into account that he has been an attorney for the Monsanto company. Robert Shapiro, a past CEO of Monsanto, had close ties to the Clinton administration. He was a member on President Clinton's Advisory Board. Margaret Miller, a current FDA Branch Chief, used to be a chemical lab supervisor at Monsanto. Linda Fisher, a former EPA Deputy Administrator,  was the Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at Monsanto. Michael Taylor is another government agent with two sides. In his job at Monsanto as King and Spaulding Lawyer and Vice President for Public Policy, he advised Monsanto to label their foods with genetically modified stickers. In his next job as a Deputy Commissioner for Policy for the FDA, he oversaw FDA's decision not to label genetically modified foods. The key decisions regulating Monsanto's huge control has a direct tie to the corporate and judicial positions of our government and positions in Monsanto's company. The people that are supposed to be regulating our food industry, have an alter ego in the companies they are supposed to be regulating.
   The Food and Drug Administration is supposed to be regulating our industries for the safety of America without bias or outside influence. But today, the FDA and other government regulatory agencies are not true to its purpose. Because its agents are also involved with food companies, there is extreme bias and outside opinions influencing key decisions that have radically changed our food industry. The power of these food companies are not being regulated like they should be, resulting in an unsafe eatery for America. The government that was made of the people, by the people, and for the people is not protecting its people like proposed.